The persecuted
by NettlePrincess
Summary: Tino has to escape the witch persecution and get separated from his brother. After many years Tino runs into a wounded man near his cottage and saves his life. This is my English translation of Vainottu! SuFin BoyxBoy
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to you all!**

**This is my first English fanficton and it's a translation of my Finnish story Vainottu. I basically write only in Finnish so this one is something I do when I have time or I'm bored. I hope I will eventually translate the whole story, but if you know anyone who would like to do it instead, please tell!  
The characters belong to our sensei Himaruya Hidekaz.  
This is a story about witchcraft and I will tell you right away that I don't hate Christianity at all! It's just that it was at the Middle Ages pretty different and this is only fictional so please don't start bombarding me with comments about it :)  
Now please enjoy the story :)**

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The rain water splashed from the puddles on the ground as a young boy clothed in a black robe stepped in them. The boy ran straight the sand road glancing behind him. Far behind him could be seen distant lights of the flaming torches in the darkness of the night. The boy prolonged his steps and felt nasty pain in his chest.

"_They are coming! They are reaching me! Too tired… NO! I have to carry on!"_

Sand road meandered in the open field area where wasn't any place to hide.

"Catch it!"

"Death to that devil's child!"

The boy glanced once again behind his shoulder and doing so he tripped over the hole on the road. He fell down on his face in the mud. The boy got up fast, but the falling had shortened his and his pursuers distance greatly.

"_I will die"_, the boy though desperately. He felt tears burning his eyes, _"They will catch me and torture me before they drown or beat me to death. NOOO! Mom! Dad! Big brother!"_

Hard wind threw the boy's black robe's hood off his head. His straw blond hair wetted in the rain and slipped front of his light violet eyes. The boy scanned horrified ahead, trying to find an escape off this hell, where he had entered into. The rain and wind pulling him around and suddenly behind the rain fog rose a big wood bridge decorated with shed. The boy knew the bridges to be the end for him because he could spot behind it more lights.

"_They have spread the word to other villages!"_

He ran to the bridge and stopped. Both sides of the bridge streamed river, which no common mortal could survive alive. Also piece of tree trunks were crashing into the rocks in the stream. Storm had ripped everything with it and slammed it in the river. The boy eyed the river thinking furiously his big brother's words.

_Remember that everything you ever need will be found from the environment. It will help you._

The boy took a deep breath and rose his hand above the stream. At that very moment striking pain made him to take a step backwards. His head had been hit with a rock. The boy swayed and looked around. The bridge had been surrounded from both sides. Both in front and behind there was a sea of angry and scared faces.

"You animal! How could you murder Buuris?!" village's fierce carpenter shouted. His hands tightened around an axe and his teeth screeched as he bit them furiously together, "Buuris let you and your brother stay in his stall and this is how you thank him?!"

"I didn't kill him!" the boy shouted desperately and grabbed the bridges rail to keep him balanced, "He ate poisonous berries!"

"Lies!" hissed an old woman who carried one of the torches, "I saw you touch him and he just fell down and started to groan! I saw!"

The woman smiled evilly at the boy's horrified look.

"That's a lie! I didn't even touch him! I was just trying to warn him not to eat those berries! I could have never done something like that to Buuris!" the boy said with a trembling voice.

The crowd shouted and mocked scornfully, and lifted their weapons and torches.

"He blames the old Marjalanne is a liar! Our village's chaste man's gentle wife!"

"I gave you once the remains of our meal! You viper!"

"He has probably intrigued his evil ploys the whole time with his brother to kill Buuris!"

"A devil like that shouldn't be let to be here with the holy and chaste people! He and his people must be captured and killed right away!"

The villagers started to get nearer the bridge and the bad weather seemed only to feed their anger. The blood poured from his head on his eye and fogged his sight. He squeezed the wooden rail harder and then made up his mind and… jumped right into the freezing and dangerous river. The crowd both sides gasped and ran spreading to both sides of the river.

"Where did it disappear?"

"Did it drown?"

"Did the trunks crush it?"

"Did it die?"

The village's old priest stepped forward. He bend on the riverside and eyed the merciless foams. He sighed deeply frowning and did the cross sign. The carpenter came to his side and glanced towards the river also.

"Father Johannes? Is he…", the man left the question in the air and helped the priest to get up from the riverside. The old priest straightened and glanced sadly at the villagers.

"The God gives us life and he also decides when it ends. This vermin of Satan has now confronted The Lord's verdict. His soul will now end up in the purgatory. We shall have longer mass this Sunday so his alike will not drift to our village anymore" the priest said and started calmly walking the road which lead back to the village.

The carpenter glanced the man besides him, who carried a torch, and nodded indicatively. The man rose his torch and flung it above his head back and forth six times. The people besides the river started to cheer and leave to their villages. The carpenter stayed behind and glanced once more at the furiously churning river. His look showed only feelings of disgust and he spit in the river before turning and going after the other villagers. The witch had died.

Further, at the rivers lower course, a small body maneuvered on the riverside tired. The water had threw him all around like a ragdoll and twigs and tree trunks had hurt him badly, but the boy was alive. He crawled further away from the river, towards the woods, which rose ahead of him. Even the small distance from the river to the woods limited the blond boy's strength greatly. He still managed to crawl in the cover of a big fir three's rhizome's. The roots were huge and between them there had build up a small dint for a hiding place. The boy cowered in the shelter of the fir and covered his head with the black hood again.

He was freezing so bad his whole tiny body was trembling and he hugged himself feeling miserable. Everything had turned out badly. One little trip to the village to thank the nice horseman, had lead him in this miserable state. He had gotten separated from his brother, who though his little brother was safely traveling with a bribed ferryman.

"_He doesn't know that I'm not aboard. He doesn't know that when he comes to the meeting place I won't be there."_

The boy tampered the pendant around his neck with his fingers. The bone talisman was a gift from his big brother. It's meaning was to replace him when they were separated. The boy squeezed the talisman and remembered his brother's advice. He lifted his face determined and started to examine himself. His head was bleeding again because of the rock that hit him. Also the trunks and the rocks had beat his body to bruises and small wounds. The boy had beneath his robes once warm, now ragged clothes made from animal leather. His unbelievably pretty face was covered with small cuts and mud. Actually, he was covered in mud all over.

The boy sighed assessing the damages. Now he didn't have a choice. He was too tired to even think about gathering herbs and he couldn't be in the woods longer than couple of days. The boy knew everything about blood halting. He knew it was really dodgy to do it to himself. If he halted his blood, he might sink to the spirit state and never return. The boy had always got along well with the spirits so he believed they would be sympathetic to his acts. He was strong. The boy laid down so he was as comfortably as he could in the bumpy ground and relaxed his body. It was extremely important to know how to relax during the blood halting.

He closed his eyes and halted his blood.

His body stopped.

Everything froze.

They boy trembled trying to stay on the right side of the world. He felt his body's balance. The wounds on his body started suddenly change to dark violet color and close. The change begun from the bottom and kept going all the way to his head wound. When there was nothing to fix anymore, the boy started to restore his body back to normal again.

The freezing feeling melted away.

The awful stagnation started to let him free.

Soon the boy opened his eyes again, but he didn't move. He couldn't. The blood halting took always great amount of strength, and he wouldn't be able to do anything else than lay on the wet ground. The boy smiled pleased with himself. He had already done powerful magic two times in one day. That couldn't be done by just any witch. The happy face however changed quickly to a sad grimace.

Ivan.

His brother. Ivan would go mad with worry when he would realize his little brother was missing. Would the villagers think he was dead? If so, would the information reach Ivan. The boy bit his lip and tried to hold the tears imagining his brother looking for him. Ivan would find him. His brother could always cope. Now the boy had to concentrate on his own survival. He had to get to a safe place and find something to eat. He would find a village where the villagers wouldn't want to kill him and then he would stay there to wait. As irritating it was, that's what Ivan had told him to do.

"_Do you understand now? If we ever get separated, you will not leave to search me", Ivan said when they sat on a field full of sunflowers. His big brother gazed at him sternly._

"_But!"_

"_No! You have to find a peaceful and friendly village and try to survive. Even if it took forever, I will get there and took you with me. In the meantime you concentrate practicing and surviving", Ivan said strictly._

"_Ivan…"_

"_Don't talk back to me. There are villages there that can stand our kind as long as we don't cause trouble. You are a sweet kid. They will surely help you", Ivan cut one of the most beautiful sunflowers with one smooth wave of his hand and smelled it. He smiled at his little brother and handed the flower to him._

"_Just wait for me"_

"_Okay…"_

_Ivan smiled and stroked the boy's cheek with his thumb._

"_You are dear Tino"_

**XxXxxXxxX**

**Well how did you like it? After this chapter there will be a time skip so this is the only chapter when Tino is child. And he's something like 12 so he will age pretty much because he will be 23 at the other chapters. Here is also a fun fact. The magnificent internet told me that the typical witch in Middle Ages Finland was male so that's how I come up with Tino being a witch :)  
Please be nice and comment :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi!  
Really big thank you for my friend Anni, who has promised to help me by translating this story! Thanks dear! And thanks for the comments :D**

**xXxXxX **

Ten years later

Tino was sitting on the front porch of his cottage, cleansing peas into a large pail. He was humming, and the birds living under the roof of the porch were singing merrily along with him. Tino scooped some seeds from a bag beside him and placed them right next to him on the long bench lining the porch. The birds soon flew next to him, starting to eat the seeds. Tino looked the birds gently and continued cleansing the peas. After eating the seeds, the birds stayed to rest on the bench and the other one even jumped on the man's shoulder. For a young man he already was. Complete twenty-three years. His fair hair had grown longer, almost to the level of his shoulders, and he had grown taller. The baby fat had disappeared from his face that shone beautiful and gentle. He had always been a bit slender for a man.

The twilight sun shone faintly through the close trees creating an orange glow on the porch. The cottage was made of logs and it was actually quite big for just one man to live, yet still a beloved place. The log cottage was built on a small ridge under the shade of trees, in the middle of a forest. Behind the cottage ran a small river full of fish, and nearby was a spring welling drinkable water. There was a little footpath leading west, away from the cottage. It led all the way to a small village near the border of the woods.

Tino finished cleansing the peas and got carefully up so he wouldn't scare the bird sitting on his shoulder. Nevertheless, the bird took wing and, took up a position from a log pole, twittering. Tino picked up the pail and carried it inside the cottage. The door opened to a large living space with a fireplace and a kitchenette. In front of the fireplace was a big couch covered with furs and there seemed to be strange items all over the place. Bookshelves bursted with books and there was, for example, skulls and bones of animals on the drawers. Near the stove were a massive oaken table and two benches.

Tino placed the pail of peas on the kitchen floor and turned to go up to the loft. There were three floors in the cottage, and ladders lead to the other floors. The first loft was padded with furs and there were couple trunks next to the walls. Tino climbed the ladder to the lower loft and almost tripped on one of the furs while reaching the ladders to the higher loft. The second loft was mainly used as an attic. There were a lot of extraordinary items and trunks full of stuff. When he got up to the attic, Tino opened one of the trunks and moved the empty bottles and jars inside of it. After finding the jar on a right size, he climbed back down to the bottom floor.

The jar was big enough for half of the peas. Tino dropped some yellowish broth on the bottom of the jar and then scooped half of the peas from the pail in the jar. Then he poured water in the jar with a ladle and tapped the rim of the jar. The insides of the jar hissed and then froze. Tino sealed the jar and placed it on the table. He threw aside a bear fleece carpet, revealing a trapdoor underneath it. There were short soil stairs that lead to a small cellar. Tino climbed down the stairs to underground and placed the jar of peas to one of the shelves. In the far back of the cellar, behind the shelves, was a low door. Tino knew that the corridor behind the door lead kilometres away and then rose to the surface of the ground. The corridor would be for emergencies.

He had yet never been forced to use the door.

Tino climbed up and covered the trapdoor with the fleece, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall. Kaoru should come to visit him soon.

Tino opened the front door, and a warm summer breeze blew inside. The birds living under the porch roof flew inside the cottage and sat on one of the beams crossing just under the ceiling. Tino laughed to their courting. The birds had moved to live in the cottage soon after him, and they kept him company. Tino went out on the porch and sat down on the stairs. He started to hum that familiar song again. It was actually worship song, and it told about a prayer of a beautiful witch, a prayer to the spirits to give her the ability to save her sister from the deathbed. The spirits softened before this beautiful and innocent woman and gave her the ability to save her sister. According to the story, that female witch was the first one to master the ability of blood halting. The sister recovered and got married to a good and gentle man. The female witch fell in love with her sister's husband's friend, and the four of them lived together happily ever after.

Ivan had told him that story and taught him to sing the song. Tino had sung the song so many times that it flowed almost naturally from his lips.

Ten years.

Ivan had not come.

"_No! He will come…He promised…"_ Tino thought and felt the painful longing and sorrow to invade his heart again. But maybe that wasn't a surprise after all.

Tino had arrived to the cottage in the middle of the forest only four years ago. For six years he had tried to find a peaceful village where to wait Ivan to come, but there hadn't been any luck anywhere he had been. He had lived in the villages only for short amounts of time until he had been either banished or kindly told to disappear. Few times he had been turned in to the Inquisition, and he had almost died when they had surrounded his house.

This village was different. He had arrived there badly wounded and weak. A young, brown-haired girl had found him from near outside the village and called help. Tino had woken up in a whole new place and ran out of the baker's house in panic. He had run out of the village, all the way to the woods before he had calmed down enough to think clearly. Tino hid in the woods couple of days and all that time the villagers were looking for him. Finally Tino had the courage to come out from his hiding place, and the worried baker took him back to his house to take care of him.

While getting better, Tino cautiously told his origin, and even though the villagers were surprised, they didn't eject him. The baker even offered him the guest room of his house. However, it all felt like too much. Having been on the run for six years had made Tino wary, and he asked if he could only live in the woods. The village's woodcutter then remembered that in the woods, there was a cottage of a late recluse. The recluse had died a year ago and the cottage was desolated, in more than one meaning. Tino was smiling by himself. The cottage had been in a bad shape, but otherwise perfect.

"Tino!"

Tino jumped scared because of the sudden voice, but then relaxed when seeing 18-year-old Kaoru running the footpath to the cottage. Tino smiled and waved his hand. Kaoru was a tall, lanky boy with a bushy, pitch black hair. He was part of the merchant's family and he sold the goods that had come from elsewhere. Kaoru was one of the few that Tino really trusted, and also one of the few brave ones who had the courage to wander so far to the woods. The villagers feared a little that murky center of the forest. Kaoru was often quiet, but talked gladly with Tino.

Kaoru walked the last steps and sat down next to Tino on the stairs.

"The baker told me to bring you these" he said and handed the man a basket.

Tino peeked under the cloth and sighed to the date cake on the basket, delighted.

"Oh well. He's always so kind. If only his son stopped harassing…" Tino sighed and Kaoru laughed.

"Francis is what he is. He's just messing around."

"Right" Tino smiled and got up. "Come inside. I'll make us some tea."

Kaoru got up after him and stepped inside of the cottage. Kaoru had gotten lost in the forest when he was fourteen and finally ended up to Tino's cottage. The boy had seen all Tino's spirit items, and after that it had been difficult to get him to go back home. Tino had promised that the boy could come to visit him if only the boy's mother knew he was. Tino had walked Kaoru to the border of the forest and the boy's family had thanked him dearly.

Now Kaoru paid a visit almost every evening. Sometimes he brought his sister Mei and brothers Kiku and Yao with him. Kiku and Yao were both a little older than Tino and often they only came with Mei to watch after her. It was still nice that they didn't watch Tino badly even when their little brother spent loads of time in the cottage of a witch.

"Also, Arthur send his regards" Kaoru said cautiously when sitting down at the table. Tino glanced the boy over his shoulder, then turned to take tea leaves from the cabin.

"Really… Is he still asking me to take part in the mass?"

Arthur was the village's priest. That title always scared and enraged Tino, but… Arthur was an extraordinary priest. Tino wanted to despise the man, but he couldn't. Arthur was kind. That's all that could be said of the man. Yes, he kept asking Tino to take part in the mass, but otherwise he treated Tino the same as any "normal" person. Arthur had even once asked Tino to curse Francis. The baker's son was a little too eager to spend time in the priest's company.

Tino cut the cake in slices on a plate and put it in front of Kaoru.

"No…You do know that he doesn't think any bad of you…" Kaoru said and reached to take a piece of the date cake.

"I know…But it's not easy to forget…" Tino said without finishing the sentence.

The teapot boiled and Tino lifted it on the table and poured water into two cups. Kaoru studied his cup enthusiastically and then looked Tino, expecting something. Tino knew from the boy's face what he was thinking.

"No, Kaoru. It's just tea. There's nothing magical with it" he said and took a sip of hot tea from his cup. Kaoru showed a grumpy face and then started to drink his own tea.

The birds were still sitting on one the ceiling beams and Tino crumbled some cake on the other end of the table. The birds wouldn't come near anyone else than Tino, and he knew it was because he was a witch. Witches had always had a special connection with nature and animals. Tino straightened one of his fingers and whistled a short chord. Other one of the birds flew to sit on his finger and chirped the same chord. The second bird went to the crumbles and soon the other one flew to have a meal. Kaoru watched the birds and Tino took another sip of his tea.

"How are the things going in the village?" Tino asked, curious. During these four years he had learned to trust the villagers and visited there every now and then. Kaoru stopped watching the birds and took a bite of his cake slice.

"Well, same old same old. Although..." Kaoru looked worried at Tino, "Some soldiers came by the village yesterday."

Tino froze. Soldiers never meant anything good. Last time Tino had almost...well…yeah. Tino rather didn't look back to that encounter. Apparently, if someone was a witch, one could do anything they liked to them…

"What were they doing in the village?" Tino asked, trying to sound unconcerned.

"Asking around for rumours and news. They said they were looking for dangerous people."

"Hmph" Tino exhaled, bitterly. "What a surprise it took this long for soldiers to come to the village. Did they visit Arthur? Were they sent by the Inquisition?"

"They did, but Arthur said there's no dangerous people there or anywhere near the village." Kaoru smiled a little and finished his tea. "I'm sorry but I need to go already. I promised I wouldn't be for long."

"Yes, I understand" Tino said and smiled mildly.

Kaoru stood up and walked to the door, Tino right behind him. Tino grabbed a small, colourful talisman from a drawer beside the door. It was a really beautiful and skilfully made dream catcher.

"Kaoru."

The boy stopped and turned to face Tino. The man took Kaoru's hand and placed the dream catcher in his palm.

"It's for your sister. Last time you said she's still chased by the nightmares of that time she almost died when falling to that gulley. This will help her to sleep peacefully."

Kaoru grasped the dream catcher in his hand and hugged Tino, grateful. He stepped down the stone steps made in the ridge and Tino stood on the porch, pulling the shawl on his shoulders better on him. But Kaoru stopped when he was almost down the stairs. He slammed his forehead and turned to Tino.

"I almost forgot. Mathias told that a son of some of their acquaintances is moving to live in the village. No one really knows what that man is about, but probably would be good to be careful, just in case. He will arrive in few days."

Then Kaoru took off, jogging briskly on the pathway to the village.

Tino watched him go until his black-haired head disappeared in to the woods.

"So, a new villager…" Tino thought aloud.

The bird couple flew out from the cottage, singing cheerfully. Tino got back inside, shut the door after him, and put away the cake and the tea pot. He washed the dishes and then got up to the first loft. He changed on a light nightgown and curled under the furs. He was very tired. Yet another day gone by without Ivan coming back. Where could he be? Ten years had passed after they'd split up. Would his older brother still look the same? Did Ivan miss Tino as much Tino missed him?

Why hadn't he come?

What if…

"_Don't you think anything like that! Ivan is wise and sly. No one could ever catch him!"_

Still a thought of Ivan in the hands of the Inquisition haunted Tino. Tino dig a worn out book from under the furs, an old book he had bought from some merchant years ago. It was a storybook with only happy endings. The book mainly consisted of stories of families. Tino often imagined Ivan and himself in those stories.

There was also one story in the book that didn't tell about a family, but Tino still liked it. He usually skipped that kind of stories because they weren't so important to him.

But that story of two boys trapped in a cave on a stormy night was somewhat special.

Tino imagined himself as other of those boys, but the other boy remained faceless.

**XxXxxXxxX**

**Anni you are my savior. I'm not good at writing English xD  
Please comment and tell me what did you think :)**


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